The Pittsburgh Penguins trailed after 58 minutes. Despite a proper blitz, the Penguins couldn’t find a second goal until Sidney Crosby fed Rickard Rakell for the tying goal. We’ve got the game recap and the full, in-depth report card as the Penguins’ kids went wild. And for subscribers, we delivered our weekly Inside the Penguins Room feature with some exclusive and slightly controversial insights from the room.

Elsewhere in the Daily, Elliotte Friedman cleaned up the last of the Connor Hellebuyck trade rumors. All eyes are now on Quinn Hughes, as he addressed his future and tried to cover all bases. The Anaheim Ducks beat the Philly Flyers in the Leo Carlsson Bowl. The Carolina Hurricanes are getting decreasing offers for Alex Nikishin, and the Washington Capitals have granted winger Ivan Miroshnichenko permission to seek a trade.

I don’t often get caught in the fan part of the game (if I did, I couldn’t give you what you need), but I’ll confess to enjoying seeing the young players do well Saturday. We’ve put a lot of time into covering them, really analyzing their games and their progress, and chatting with them, too. In doing this job for years, they’re the first prospect class since the Bryan Rust/Jake Guentzel class to begin graduating to the top level.

It’s incredibly interesting to me to see the young guys fighting for their dreams. You know I’ll always be objective, if not set a high bar for the story, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the process. Perhaps you can relate to fighting uphill for your career, too. For some of us, it still seems like yesterday.

And maybe someday, I’ll tell you about the town that absolutely hated me because I was a terrible morning news anchor (What can I say, I was 19) on a heritage AM station, and the next boss who became wanted by law enforcement. I’m definitely the player who came up from the ECHL…

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Not a lot of goals to recap, so we’ll skip right to the report card. It was the youth gone wild as the Penguins bombarded Nashville but needed a late goal with the extra attacker to tie it and Ville Koivunen’s GWG. So, here’s the Xs and Os, the three things that worked, and the Penguins’ grades.

Before the game, the Penguins recalled Avery Hayes and provided injury updates.

PHN+: And let’s go inside the locker room. Nick Robertson explained how his usage is different, actually better, with the Penguins than Toronto, despite it looking the same on paper. And there’s a budding bromance on the Penguins blue line that definitely caught me off guard. Here’s the Penguins Room feature.

NHL Trade Rumors, News, & NHN

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman reports the Carolina Hurricanes were shopping around the league trying to find a third team to get involved so they could snag Connor Hellebuyck. They really tried, but New Jersey’s offer was better at the finish line.

Friedman also reported as part of Saturday Headlines that the Washington Capitals have granted Ivan Miroshnichenko permission to seek a trade.

The Athletic: Carolina is getting decreasing offers for Nikishin, but they’ve made it clear to teams that they won’t lower their asking price.

TSN: Quinn Hughes returned to Vancouver, so he had to talk. I interpreted his comments as indicating he’ll sign a short-term, big-money deal in Minnesota, and he included the phrase, “something could happen soon.”

But he also sounded a bit like a Grateful Dead hippie, so…

Philly Hockey Now: A team with a jacked-up payroll faced the team that actually jacked up their payroll for them. The Anaheim Ducks, with Leo Carlsson, visited the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a high-scoring game, and the Flyers couldn’t keep up.

Detroit Hockey Now: Despite being deposed, Steve Yzerman’s fingerprints are all over the Detroit Red Wings, in a good way.

Boston Hockey Now: Points in eight straight and a top pick starting to shine. It’s coming up aces for the Boston Bruins.